Grand Teton – Day 2

   

Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam

And the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is hear and discouraging word

And the sky is not cloudy all day

Home, Home on the range

Where the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day

            Sung by “Utah Carl”, circa 1957-58, KHOU TV children’s show as best as I remember

           

I awoke this morning around 7:30 am, dressed and went downstairs to get breakfast. The temp in Jackson was in the low 40s with partly cloudy skies. The rain/snow did not show up as expected in the forecast for which I was glad. Hopefully it would be similar conditions back up at the park.

I left for the part around 8:30 am and planned to drive to the north end of the park at or just past Colter Bay. The sun was trying to poke through the clouds in Jackson as I headed out. I took one of the side roads off the main highway called Antelope Flats, because there was supposed to be some good wildlife viewing in that area. I was not disappointed. I came upon some Elk and several herds of Bison along the road and got some pretty decent pictures.

I returned to the main highway and made my way to Colter Bay Village on Jackson Lake. As I drove along the cloud cover began to get thicker toward Grant Teton. The temps were in the low-mid 40s.  I stopped at the Cunningham cabin historic site and then went on to Colter Bay. I went to the Visitor Center, stamped my passport and inquired of one of the Rangers if the path around the bay was passable. It was not, as was the case for all of the parks hiking paths. Well, they were open, but with a lot of snowpack that was beginning to thaw making them difficult even for snowshoes. So my hiking adventures in the Grand Teton were called off due to unusually late cold weather and snow. While at the Visitor Center I toured through the American Indian Art Museum which is going away next year for some major renovations/restoration of the artifacts.

Cunningham Cabin

View at Oxbow Bend with enough sun to cause a reflection, sort of

Indian Artifacts

Frozen Colter Bay

I left Colter Bay Village and continued north on the John D. Rockefeller byway another 8-10 miles to the Jackson Lake overlook and then started back toward Jackson, 50 miles away. It was exactly 12 noon when I turned and headed back south. If I had continued north, I would have eventually wound up in Yellowstone. This is the route I plan to take to Yellowstone on Sunday.

Frozen Jackson Lake

On the way back I stopped at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center and found there had been Moose sightings at the boat dock area. So I trekked across 200-300 yards of snowpack to the boat dock to see if I could see them. They must have been on break, since they were no where to be found. I went back to the car and headed toward the park south exit. Just before the exit was the Menor Ferry Historic Site, so I turned down that road and visited it.

 Ferry Boat

Menor's Ferry Crossing

Ferry Building and Store

Once more I headed out of the park and back toward Jackson with the sun starting to appear and warming the temps up to around 50.

On the Road back to Jackson

I arrived back in Jackson around 2 pm at the local Pizza Hut for lunch, just missing the buffet, so I had a personal pan pizza. After lunch back to the hotel to relax a while an upload my pictures for the day. I also checked on the movie times at the theatre across the parking lot and found a movie, Thor, at 4:45 pm to go see. As I was getting back to the hotel the clouds were getting thicker again and soon after I got to my room, the rain they had been forecasting finally arrived. I headed over to the movie to see Thor and when I got out of the movie around 6:45, the rain had stopped for now. I went over the gas station next to the hotel and got a few snacks for the evening, since after the pizza for lunch around 2 pm, I wasn’t really hungry. So I will relax back at my room and maybe read or watch a movie, or both for the rest of the evening.

If I had known about the park conditions beforehand, I could have left Jackson tomorrow for Yellowstone. However tomorrow will give me a chance to tour around Jackson and see some of its sites such as the downtown square area and the National Museum of Wildlife Art just outside the city on the way to Grand Teton, and to sample some of the local culinary cuisine, etc. Hopefully the rain will hold off some more for tomorrow’s adventures. Then Sunday I will leave for Yellowstone.

See you down the road.